Healing Touch
by Bittersweet Mika
Summary: Hinata’s thoughts and reaction when Neji is brought back half dead. To see him she's willing to do something a little out of character. It will lead to change, maybe enough to change a family. One shot.


**Title: **Healing Touch

**Spoilers:** Up to the current story line, when Neji is brought back injured.

**Rating: **PG, a few mild teen thoughts, mentions of severe injuries. But nothing bad.

**Summary:** Hinata's thoughts and reaction when Neji is brought back half dead.

**Disclaimer: **Don't own it, wish I did.

**Authors Notes: **This was a challenge response for one of my Live Journal communities, it ended up being a lot longer than I thought it would be. As always thoughts are in _italics._

**Feedback:** Pretty please?

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Hinata crept thorough the quiet halls of the house, trying to make as little noise as possible. It was late at night and she didn't want to wake anybody up. She felt a strange compulsion to keep the goal of her wanderings to herself. What she wasn't doing wasn't wrong, in fact she had the feeling that most would approve of what she had in mind.

Never the less, she wanted to do this on her own, away from the eyes of her family. Without the gazes of her friends and team mates upon her. She felt that it would be for the better if no one witnessed her actions. She didn't want to explain, and she was sure that Neji wouldn't want anyone to see her visit him. He didn't like to look weak, and now he had been brought back to the village on the brink of death and having Hinata see him in this state was not something he would want.

She couldn't understand his attitude at times, everyone in Konoha knew that he was the most gifted member born to the name Hyuuga in generations; he was acknowledged as the strongest of the genins and respected by so many people. But at other times she understood his hostility. An arrangement of birth beyond his control and he was banished to a cage, so much of his potential lost in a curse mark. She saw the cage as well, she thought of herself as trapped in a world, in a family where she was as good as forgotten, considered worthless in the eyes of her father and who knew how many others. Passed over for a younger sister who possessed the ability to be ruthless, a quality that she lacked.

At certain times when she was in a bad mood and still hurting from her injuries, the ones that were inflicted by her cousin she had the vindictive thought that Neji would make the perfect head of the family, because he by no means was lacking the characteristics that her father thought was necessary for the next ruler of the Hyuuga clan, he was strong, smart, cunning and ruthless, some would say cruel even. And when she was in thins dark frame of mind, she found herself agreeing with them.

Hinata didn't agree with the division of the families, she found it unnecessary and mean. And she didn't see any reason for any member of her family to serve her. In her mind, she just didn't deserve it. She didn't like to see the green marks on the foreheads of people she loved, people she was connected to by blood. Hinata loved her family, all of it. From the father that never looked at her to the sister that looked on her with scorn to the branch members that looked at her with something unidentifiable in they eyes and the ones that looked at her with pity.

Hinata looked around to make sure that she hadn't alerted anyone while she had made her way out of the house. She was surprised that she had made her way out the door and hadn't encountered a single person. If anyone had seen her, they hadn't bothered her. She made her way down the mostly empty streets of the village, it was late and most normal people were in bed. And even though she wasn't the favored child in the Hyuuga clan, she was still a Hyuuga, a name and a family that commanded respect, even if she felt that she was unworthy of it.

She made her way to the hospital and considered her options. It was well past visiting hours, once and awhile a concerned spouse could find a way past the restrictions and spend extra time with their loved one. But Neji wasn't her husband, she wasn't even sure that she could call him a friend. She knew that he certainly didn't consider her one. In fact, most of the village knew how the older boy viewed Hinata, and if they didn't before, they did after the preliminaries of the chuunin exam. The entire town had seen her limp around with the severe wounds he had inflicted on her without a second thought. Kurenai had told her about his charge on her after her collapse and about the other Konoha jounins stopping him. After her teacher had told her that, she fervently wished that she had never asked what had happened after her collapse.

Hinata made her way towards the front door, still trying to find a way for her to be able to see Neji. She entered the large building and made her way towards the front desk, looking for an attendant, some one who could tell her where she could find her relative. There was no one in the large reception area. The entire lobby area was empty. She wasn't surprised, after all it was past visiting hours and every where was still understaffed, the hospital included.

You were supposed to sign in when you visited, but after a second Hinata realized that she could use this to her advantage. She looked around again to make sure that no one was coming. When she was sure that she would be alone, she darted behind the desk and looked at the register of patients. Grabbing a pen and tearing a piece of paper from a note pad next to the phone, she quickly wrote down not only Neji's room number, but also Kiba's. She should visit her team mate as well. She knew however that he was doing well and that her cousin was not. He would be out of it for quite some time.

Trying to stay as quiet as she had been in the house, she hurried as quickly as she dared through the halls of the hospital. She worked her way to room 314 but paused once she got there. She knew what was on the other side of the door, a member of her family, broken and battered. He had almost died, all to bring back someone who had willingly left. It wasn't in her nature to be angry, but at the moment she felt herself fairly seething at the last Uchiha. Everyone who chased after him had come back injured, Neji and Chouji were almost killed and Naruto had been forced to battle one of his only friends.

Hinata steeled herself and took a deep breath before pushing the door open and slipping inside. The lights were turned down low, presumably so let the patient sleep, but she was given to understand that Neji hadn't woken up yet. He would most likely sleep through the next day and night, if not longer. It took the space of several moments for her eyes to adjust to the lack of light.

She wasn't prepared for the sight that greeted her, the image before her eyes rushed forward and barreled into her mind. She felt the air inside of her expel out and her chest caved in a little. In shock she found herself fumbling back a step and soon her back was against the heavy door. She took in a shaky breath, but inside she felt tight and uncomfortable, like the air she and inhaled was too much for her small frame to handle.

Her hand went up to her chest without her even realizing it, to the same place that Neji had struck at over and over in their fight. Underneath her fingers her heart beat out an erratic rhythm. Still unaware of her actions, she lightly rubbed the area, the back of her mind trying to soothe an ache that always seemed to flame up at the sight of her cousin.

In the dim lighting she could make out the altered image of Neji, bruises spread across the right side of his face making him seem unearthly pale, scratches worked their way down his arms, there was a gruesome looking wound at his shoulder, the one that had almost taken his life. It would scar a reminder for the rest of his life.

But what stood out the most was his hair, most of it was gone. Before now, she had never once seen it loose and messy. It had always been pulled back and controlled. And it had always been so much longer than hers, now the difference in the two lengths was a few mere inches. Hinata was used to seeing people she knew, people she cared about with cuts and bruises. It was an inescapable part of being a ninja. But the drastic difference in Neji's hair hit her hard, for one reason.

_"He doesn't look like him anymore."_ Hinata thought as she carefully moved closer to the bed.

Hinata willed her breathing to become even lighter and quieter the closer she got to her sleeping cousin. Neji looked even more different and beaten up close. All of the healers' energy had been used to treat the injury on his shoulder, leaving all the minor ones to heal on their own over time. She came to a rest right next to his bed and let her eyes run over him. He was naked from the waist up, but had bandages wrapped around large areas of his torso. His mouth was open slightly as he took slow but steady breaths. Blankets were pulled up over his legs and lower abdomen, but they were twisted slightly, a sign that his sleep was not completely peaceful.

As Hinata's eyes traveled back up the length of his body, she felt every last little slip of anger and resentment drain out of her body. She understood his anger at the main house. She understood how she was a symbol of everything that he thought was against him, a pampered little girl who wasn't as strong as he was but because of the circumstances of her birth was treated so very differently. She didn't like it anymore than he did.

_"None of them deserved this. No matter what he's done, I can't be mad anymore. He almost lost his life for someone who would use him as a steeping stone on the path to power if he had to," _she thought and once again she found anger stirring inside of her. It wasn't a sensation that she was used to, _"But one that I think I'm going to have to learn how to live with."_

Her friends, her team mate, the person she admired and a member of her family had all been injured in the attempt to retrieve Sasuke. Hinata found herself relieved that Shino wasn't involved in the failed mission. She wasn't sure that she would have been able to deal with both of the people closest to her had been so badly hurt. Kiba and Shino were her closest friends as well as her team mates. They had been able to look past the Hyuuga name and her shy exterior to get to know her, they protected her. Hinata wondered how the other girls were, both of Ino's team mates had gone, Lee had managed to join in the fight leaving Tenten behind and Sakura had forever lost one of her companions.

_"But try as I can, I can't be sorry that he's gone. Not after this," _she thought while as lightly as possible she reached out and brushed away some hair that had fallen into the sleeping boy's eyes. When he didn't stir, she was relieved and gently laid the back of her hand against his brow, trying to gauge his temperature. She frowned when she felt that he was a little hot. A fever was the last thing that he needed and she wondered if she should get a nurse.

However, she didn't get the time to contemplate the option though, behind her the door opened and the room was filled with light spilling in from the hallway. Hinata gasped, yanked her hand away from his place against Neji's forehead and spun around to face the doorway.

Tsunade, the fifth Hokage of Konoha Village was standing in the doorway, arms crossed, eyebrow raised and a clearly amused expression on her face. Hinata was positive that she was about to be in serious trouble and a few very bad punishments ran through the young girl's head. Half of them at the hands of the legendary sannin and the other at the hand of her father when he heard that she had snuck out of the house and into the hospital.

Tsunade watched the young Hyuuga genin draw her lower lip between her teeth and her head followed her eyes to the floor. She seemed to shrink in front of Tsunade's very eyes; she was expecting something bad to happen. Tsunade hadn't been back in the village for too long, but she already knew the story of the poor little Hyuuga girl who was cast off by her family, overlooked by most everyone else and beaten by someone who was supposed to protect her. And now she looked like the older woman was going to rain a wrath down onto the little girl. However the Hokage had no such plans, she hadn't had a chance to meet the girl yet, and to her, now was as good a time as any.

"Couldn't sleep?" Tsunade asked kindly.

Hinata's head came up and her eyes widened when she heard the tone of the older woman's voice. There was a smile on the Hokage's face and Hinata thought that she just may escape unscathed. She shook her head in answer to the question posed by the woman.

"I was worried about him," she paused, "about everyone."

"They're all going to be fine." Tsunade said, stepping into the room and crossing to stand next to Hinata at Neji's bedside.

"I'm glad." Hinata's voice was so quiet that Tsunade could barely hear her.

"Why did you wait until now to come and see him?" asked Tsunade.

Hinata's head bowed down again and she fidgeted a little, her hands came up and her two index fingers began to tap against each other. "It's complicated." She finally said, her voice dropping even lower.

"Come with me for a bit," Tsunade said, bringing a hand up to rest on the young girl's shoulder, "You can come back here after, I'll tell the medics and nurses that you can stay as long as you wish."

At her words, some of the anxiety left the girl and she nodded in compliance. Tsunade moved to the boy sleeping on the bed and ran a hand over the youth; she frowned when she detected the slight fever.

"Okay, I'll have something brought in for this fever. In the meantime, I think that we should talk." Tsunade said, keeping her voice pleasant and giving the genin a smile.

Hinata followed the Hokage out of the room and down the hallway to the medic station where an attendant was seated behind a desk.

"Neji is running a slight fever; make sure that it's taken care of. I don't want him to get overtaken he needs his strength to heal. And his cousin will be visiting him for awhile. She can stay as long as she likes." Tsunade instructed.

"Yes ma'am." the man behind the desk complied and with that the Hokage began to walk down another hallway with Hinata following at her heels.

They came to an office and went inside, a light was switched on and Hinata saw that the room was filled with books and scrolls. A small table covered in papers with a few chairs was in the center of the room.

"Have a seat," Tsunade said, gesturing to the table, "I'll be back in just a moment."

She walked out of the small room and Hinata was left alone, deciding that she wasn't about to be scolded by the older woman, she went and sat down on one of the chairs. Her eyes ran over the spines of the books that she could see one of them was on healing salves. Curiosity taking over she pulled the book closer and began to skim over some of the pages. True to her word, Tsunade returned shortly carrying two paper cups with steam curling out of the top. When she saw the girl reading the large book she smiled.

"Find anything interesting?" she asked. She had to grin when Hinata's head shot up and she looked like she had just been caught cheating on an exam. Tsunade just sat down and placed a cup of tea in front of the small girl.

"A little, I make some things that help cuts and bruises. My team uses them, Kiba especially. He gets a lot of scrapes." Hinata was trying to wrangle down her shyness enough to converse with the Hokage. It was difficult though, at times she even found it difficult to talk to her team, and they were closer to her than anyone else she knew.

"I imagine he would," said Tsunade, "The whole of the Inuzuka clan has a tendency towards injury. It comes from their nature of rushing into any situation."

Hinata smiled in spite of herself, it was something that she had noticed about Kiba as well.

"Why don't you borrow that book for awhile? Kurenai tell me that you have quite a knack for this type of thing," Tsunade said gently sliding the book even more towards the girl. "You should think about going into the medical studies, I think that you'd be an asset to the field." What she didn't say was that the medics generally saw less combat, unless you specialized in medical ninjutsu which so few did.

"You think that I'd be good?" Hinata asked timidly, not used to praise from a source other than Kurenai or her team mates.

"Yes, I do. I just accepted Sakura as my apprentice, and while I don't think that you're cut out for the exact same sort of thing; there are plenty of other things in the medical field you could do. I could find someone who would be able to take you on as a student. I wouldn't be able to work with you more than once in awhile. I've got a lot to do, and now Sakura on top of it all."

"I'd be honored," Hinata said, "Although I don't know who would want to teach me."

_"This girl needs a serious boost to her confidence,"_ Tsunade thought, _"Kurenai says that she's a joy to teach and from what their teacher says those two boys on her team would walk through fire for her. And one of them is from the Aburame clan; those folks are difficult to get along with and it's even harder to get them to trust you."_

"I'm sure that I can think of several people who would be delighted to have you as a student." The Hokage said.

_"In fact, I think that Shizune would be an excellent teacher for her. Not to mention that putting Hinata with her would give her something to do, now that she doesn't have to follow me around all day and attempt to keep me out of trouble. She's been bored now that I have a whole staff to help and ANBU that insists on protecting me." _Tsunade thought.

"C-c-can I talk about it with my sensei and team first?" Hinata asked.

Tsunade smiled indulgently, "Of course you can. You wouldn't be leaving them at all, just taking on some extra work."

Hinata seemed relieved to hear that, she most likely didn't want to be separated from the people she felt the most comfortable with. She placed a small hand on the book that was in front of her, "Are you sure that it's okay for me to borrow this? Won't the hospital need it?"

"I'm the Hokage; one of the perks is that I can do pretty much what I want. Besides, the book is mine." Tsunade said. She looked at the small girl across from her; she seemed to be relaxing a bit but still wary. She was so shy. Tsunade wanted to help bring the girl out of her shell, even if was only a little. Despite what the young girl and so many others thought, she had potential. If only because each and every member of the Hyuuga had it in them to be great. She just needed a little push.

"Do you have any of your salves with you?" asked Tsunade.

The small girl looked surprised at the question, but nodded. "I always keep some with me, it's kind of a habit." She said in a small voice.

"Let me see." Tsunade said, holding out her hand to the girl. Hinata put one of her hands into a pocket and withdrew a small pot with a flower painted on the lid. Tsunade smiled at the medicine's fancy container, figuring that the Hyuuga girl picked it out for herself. It looked like something a young girl would choose. Hinata placed it the Hokage's hand and then folded her own in her lap, anxious and a little frightened about what the legendary medic would say about the simple balm.

Tsunade uncapped the container and examined its contents. She was impressed at what the young girl had made all on her own. The idea of the young Hyuuga girl becoming something in the medical field was compounded when she saw what Hinata had accomplished without any formal training.

"This is good, very good in fact." Tsunade said as the girl turned pink from the praise. A slightly wicked idea wormed its way into the Hokage's mind.

_"I've never approved of the way that the Hyuuga's have worked. Hiashi may want to come after my head for this, but I'd like to see him try. Sometimes it really does pay to be the Hokage. If I can get this to work, everything in that family could change. All I have to do is push those two a little. Him most of all, I saw the tape of the match. And she's hung up on Naruto. This may be more trouble than it's worth," _Tsunade thought, but then the image of the seal on Neji's head flashed through her mind. She looked at the girl sitting across from her. _"But I don't think that's the case. This little girl could do it. She could put everything in motion."_

Coming to a decision, and doing her best not to feel guilty about what she was about to try and set in motion she handed the balm back to Hinata before speaking, "In fact, why don't you put some on those smaller injuries Neji has. I think that I would help."

Hinata flushed a brilliant shade of red and Tsunade fought down a smirk. "I-I-I'm not sure…." Hinata stammered

"What's wrong?" Tsunade asked, even though she was fully aware of what Hinata's worries were.

"I don't think that he would like it if he found out. He doesn't really like me." She confessed in a tiny voice.

"I can't think of a better way of beginning to heal things with him than you helping him recover. Show him that you care about him." Tsunade said

_"I'm evil, really I should stop." _She thought, but then she looked at Hinata and saw the violent blush receding. It was obvious that even with their rocky past, she truly cared about the boy, _"But I won't, if she cares about him enough to sneak out in the middle of the night then I'm not just trying for something impossible."_

"Do you really think so?" the girl asked, clearly hopeful. With the look on her face, Tsunade was forced to stamp out some flickers of guilt.

"Yes, I do. Besides, it's most likely that he'll sleep through the whole thing," She stood and walked to the door of the small room where the two of them had been talking. She paused and turned around to look at the young girl once more, "Plus, he is awfully cute. It's not an unpleasant task."

At that statement, the Hyuuga girl flushed scarlet once again and her eyes shot to the ground once again.

_"So she has noticed that he's a looker. I suppose that's a good thing," _Tsunade thought. She turned back to the room's exit and made her way out saying, "I'll contact you about a medical sensei." With that the Hokage disappeared from view. Leaving a still very bright red girl in the room.

Hinata sat there for a few minutes, thinking about what the Hokage had said. Thinking about beginning to heal the gulf between her and Neji.

_"If I was strong enough to be able to stand up and fight him, I should be able to be strong enough to help heal him. The Hokage herself said that the medicine I made was good. And if he'll be asleep, he may never know that I helped,"_ she thought, she stood up but hesitated when she started towards the door. Mulling over what to do for a few moments longer. _"I can do this. Not just for Neji, but to show him that I don't like the difference anymore than he does, even if I have to tell him about me giving him the medicine while he was sleeping."_

Mind made up, she moved quickly back to his room. Mind firmly made up to do this before she lost her nerve. When she got to the room, she slowed down to enter, even with the reassurances of Tsunade she didn't want to run the risk of waking him up. She walked softly across the room to his bedside. Hinata set the bowl on the small table that was next to the bed and tried to roll up her sleeves. She frowned when it didn't work; the jacket she wore was too bulky. Sighing she knew that she'd have to take it off. She unzipped it, took it off and draped the jacket over the back of one of the chairs in the room. She picked up the container of salve again and moved as close as she could to the bed. Her eyes tried to focus to see the places where he needed the medicine. There wasn't enough light in the room, she didn't want to turn on the overhead lights so instead she clicked on a small reading lamp that was mounted to the wall above the hospital bed. A soft glow illuminated the sleeping body under it. Awash in the new light, all of the injuries on the teenage boy looked starker and harsher. Hinata felt her breath catch in her throat and tears fill her eyes at the sight.

_"Lady Tsunade was right, he really is good looking, I always knew that but never really paid attention to it. It's so sad to see him looking like this." _Hinata thought to herself as she adjusted the light a little and once again examined his injured form. She dipped two of her fingers into the jar of salve and tried to decide where she needed to start. Seeing a bad spot on the shoulder opposite the near fatal wound she reached her hand out to the area, but abruptly stopped a few centimeters above the barred skin.

It had just registered in her mind that she would soon be touching him more intimately than she had in her entire life, possibly more that anyone ever had. And the places she needed to put the balm covered a wide range on the exposed skin of his torso and arms.

_"You can do this; the Hokage thinks that you have what it takes to study medicine. Think of this as training. There will be plenty of other times I'll have to treat men if you continue in those studies," _she thought, pointedly ignoring any other thoughts milling around in her mind, most of them dwelling on Neji's physical appearance.

She took a deep breath and steeled her will. She lowered her hand the last few centimeters and her fingers made contact with his skin. Hinata began to spread the medicine in circles onto the injuries covering the sleeping boy. She slowly worked the salve into Neji's flesh and moved from place to place along the exposed parts of his body. She worked at keeping her mind focused on the task at hand and did her best not to notice how he felt under her hand, for someone so young he was sculpted in different contours of muscles. A voice in the back of Hinata's mind was asking if all ninja men were built like this.

Hinata refocused on the teenage boy who for the moment was under her care. She had worked her way down and way at the area surrounding his navel. There was a nasty looking cut surrounded by a purple and yellow bruise that was a bit below and to the right of his belly button. Part of it disappeared under the blanket.

Hinata gulped slightly and took another breath before she gently folded part of his covers back to expose the wound. She was lucky that it didn't disappear into the low slung pajama pants that someone had put him into. Once again Hinata found herself forcibly concentrating on her task to ignore the stirrings of something that were brewing inside her. She had only a vague idea of why the sight before her was affecting her, she chose to put it in the back of her mind.

She began to rub a fine coat of the ointment onto the wound, her fingertips brushing the hem of his pants. When she moved to the edge of the area she felt him slightly shift. The muscles under her fingers bunching as the flesh above them rippled. She froze and stilled her hand, not noticing that when she stilled she had neglected to remove her hand from his side. When he didn't move again she began her ministrations once again, working the medicine into the skin.

Which is why when a hand shot up to grasp around her wrist she was caught completely off guard and had to stifle a scream that tried to force it's way out of her throat. Hinata snapped her eyes up to Neji's face and found a pair of large silver eyes narrowing at her. The expression on his face asked the question for him, 'What are you doing?'

Hinata opened and closed her mouth a few times, trying to find an answer. When the grip on her wrist tightened slightly she knew that what little patience he had to begin with wasn't going to last long tonight.

"I wanted to see how you were, so I crept out to visit when no one would see and came here." She breathed out in a rush.

"But what are you doing?" He asked, keeping the tight hold of her wrist. Hinata was usually too timid to speak very much to him. Her touching him was completely unheard of.

"Well, the Hokage saw me in here and asked me to come and talk with her and she suggested that I use some of the ointment that I made on you, to help your injuries. She thinks that I'll be able to study with as medic soon; she's going to look for a sensei for me. So I guess that she thought that I should start now," again she spoke in the most rushed manner that he had ever heard her use. He loosened the vice he had on her, but for reasons unknown to him he didn't drop his hold completely.

"Why did you come?" he asked.

"I was worried," she replied.

"Did you come by after you saw the others?" he asked another question, but the idea that he had been an after thought to the others was somehow painful. He knew that all the other members of the mission would undoubtedly have streams of visitors. With the exception of Naruto they all had families, and even Naruto would have many people come and see him, the Hokage herself seemed attached to boy. Neji himself wasn't sure just who would be on his roster of visitors. He was a bit of an oddity in both branches of the Hyuuga house and his natural disposition kept most from getting close, he supposed that his team would come and see him at the very least. They were the people he considered the closest things he had to friends, even if he and Lee were at odds most of the time. But he never would have thought that Hinata would willingly step anywhere near him again. Not after the chuunin exam.

_"Not that I can blame her, not after the way I've acted towards her. Using her as an outlet for all his frustrations against something that she had no say in," _he thought, but he still tensed while he awaited her answer.

He felt something lift off his chest when she shook her head. He saw her force her eyes up to his before she gave him a reply. "I haven't been to see any of them yet. I can see them during regular hours, but I thought that you may not like it if people saw me visiting you so I came now."

Neji gave her a look that clearly showed the fact he didn't see the logic behind her late hour visit. She understood and tried to explain, "I know that you don't like me, I'm weak. I didn't think you would want people knowing that I came to see you. I don't want anyone to think that I believe I'm above you or anything. That someone like me saw you like this. When you're so much more than me. I guess I'm not explaining very well."

She lowered her head again and he could no longer see her eyes he did see her bite the flesh of her lip and her fingers on the hand he didn't have a hold of wiggle in the silence that stretched out after her response.

Almost reluctantly he let go of her wrist and brought his hand back down to rest at his side. He let his thoughts and memories stir around, trying to recall if anyone had ever tended to him the way she had, if anyone had ever treated him with the tenderness she was trying to show him. After his father, he couldn't remember anyone. He had grown so cold in his remaining childhood.

"No, I understand perfectly. I'm…..happy that you came to see me. That you thought so much about how I would feel," he made several small admissions with the simple statement.

Hinata felt her eyes widen at Neji's reply and a small pink stain spread across her cheeks, "I was happy to help. Do you want me to leave so you can sleep, or I can finish with the medicine?"

Neji took a minuet to take inventory of how he was feeling. Judging my the soreness at certain places, he guessed that the areas that weren't throbbing were the ones that Hinata had treated, as awkward as it would be to have her apply the salve while he was awake and alert, the pleasant sensation of the balm on his many injuries was too strong a draw.

"If you wouldn't mind finishing?" he asked, "Whatever it is that you're using is helping. I don't think that I'll be able to get back to sleep with the throbbing."

"No, of course not," she answered, not able to stop her face from flushing when she knew that she would be touching him again, this time with him awake. Neither of them said anything else as Hinata put her fingers back into the jar to gather more of the balm. Keeping her eyes off his face she concentrated on the next spot that needed her attentions and lightly began to spread the substance on it.

"It's okay to press a little more," Neji said, sensing her reluctance to make to much contact with his skin. At the other places on him, the medicine was firmly rubbed into his skin, the place she was at now the substance was still coating his skin. While the pain was receding, he didn't enjoy the feeling of the greasy ointment coating him.

"I don't want to hurt you." She said, flustered that he had noticed her reluctant caress.

"It's okay, in the end they'll be better for it," Neji said. She nodded and began to firmly rub the balm into his skin. He watched her hands on his body faintly enraptured by the motions she spread across his skin.

Hinata continued to work her way along his skin, tending to each hurt area. With him awake, she felt it would be better not to rush the treatment. When he had been asleep she had been hurried, not wanting to run the risk of jolting him awake. Now that was no longer an issue she could take her time. And once again she found herself feeling a stirring of something deep inside of her. And again she had only an inkling of what it could mean. She pushed the thoughts to the back of her mind as she neared the end of her task.

Neji kept watching her apply the medicine, her hands were so small. There was such a small difference in their ages, but he was so much larger than her. And he was sure that one day her sister would surpass her in size, Hinata took after her mother while Hanabi clearly favored her father. Neji could barely remember Hinata's mother and his own was a blurred memory. But he did remember that Hinata's mother had been a beauty. One of the more beautiful women in the village to tell the truth and if Hinata kept on the track she was on now, she would one day rival her mother.

"Finished," he heard Hinata say. She replaced the lid on the jar and pulled his covers back up to where they had been before. "How are you feeling?"

He pulled himself out of his thoughts and once again paid attention to the numerous places where he had been hurt. The pain was no longer throbbing and fading fast. He found that he could easily see her in the medic field.

"Better, much better," he said, grateful for her aid.

"I should go now, so you can sleep," she said, moving from her position by the side of the bed.

"You don't have to," he found himself saying, not sure why he had even said it.

Hinata gave him a small smile, "I can stay."

_"Maybe the Hokage was right about healing the rift between us," _she though, it was a happy prospect. She pulled the chair with her jacket on it closer to the bed and sitting on it.

"Do you know how the others are?" he asked.

"Only what I overheard at the house. You and Chouji almost died, Kiba and Akamaru were badly hurt but they'll be fine, Shikamaru only got a small injury; believe it or not those brothers and sister from Sand came and helped. Naruto was carried back by Kakashi, he was badly beaten but he'll be better soon," Hinata told him.

"What about Uchiha?" Neji inquired, against his nature he found himself hoping that it all wasn't for nothing.

Hinata shook her head slowly, "Naruto caught up to him, but he still got away. Sasuke fought against his own team mate. Not just to test them, not like a sparring match. Not even like a friendly rivalry like you and Lee have. Sasuke was trying to kill him, so he could get away, so he could get power. And all you wanted was to bring him back."

She looked so sad, so disappointed. And hidden in the back of her eyes he saw something else, something he was able to recognize. Anger, the gentle person in front of him was angry at what had happened, at Sasuke. He felt oddly reassured at this. He didn't stop to think about it and thought it would just be better to lean back and rest. It had to be very late, and despite the fact that he had been sleeping for a long while she felt himself slipping off again. She had to be tired too.

He spent a few minutes thinking about everything that had happened since he had woken up. About Hinata, she didn't embody what he thought of when he thought of the main house. She seemed to be stuck in a cage as well, not the same one as him, but a cage all the same. Neji shifted to face her, to tell her to go home and get some rest, but that she could always come back.

But it was too late, in the span of the few minutes there had been silence Hinata had fallen asleep. She was slumped forward slightly in the chair head lolled to one side. She would fall off at some point if she kept this position. Forcing himself up slowly with one arm he reached forward and guided her to rest the upper half of her small frame on the bed. Her arms came up automatically to rest next to her head. Once he was certain that she was secure he let himself fall backward onto the bed and closed his eyes.

* * *

Morning found Tsunade standing in the Hyuuga's room watching the scene before in with a highly amused expression on her face.

Hinata was sitting on a chair that had been pulled close to the bed. Her upper body was lying against the bed where Neji was sleeping. One arm bent, half draped across the boy and her head against it. The other arm was stretched in towards the head of the bed, resting against his abdomen. One of his arms was folded across his stomach, his fingers tangled with hers the other arm lying next to his side but still found a way to maintain contact with the sleeping girl.

The Hokage turned as quietly as she could and left the room.

_"I'm not sure how much I had to do with that, but it looks like hope may not be lost for that family after all. This is only the beginning though, I think that there may be more obstacles in the way than I have time to count. I guess that they'll still be needing my help," _she thought as she made her way down the hall, deciding to go and check on Naruto and the others before returning to the slumbering Hyuugas.

-End


End file.
